Mama’s got a new bag

I’ve spent the better part of a year ogling purses on Etsy. I’ve hemmed, I’ve hawed, I’ve come close to plunking down my cash and waiting for my dream bag to arrive. But I’ve held back. Partly because I didn’t even know I had a dream bag until recently, partly because I’ve always been a “buy it for $12 at Target” kind of purse buyer, and partly because there was a little voice inside my head telling me I should try making one myself first.

I have been trying to beat down and ignore that crazy little voice for the last six months at least. Bag-making is too hard, isn’t it? What with pockets, and zippers, and interfacing, and linings, and oh! my head hurts just thinking about it. Can’t I just give The Funky Bag Lady $40 to do it all for me? She does it so well!

Well, yesterday a birthday card from my parents arrived, and it had a check inside (thanks, Mom & Dad, if you’re reading this, which you probably aren’t, but I’m going to cover my bases and thank you publicly anyway). I started thinking that I could use that check to finance my new handbag. There are several new ones in The Funky Bag Lady’s shop, and as I sat there on the couch salivating at the delicious blues & greens she’s been making lately, Neil said, “you should make one of those yourself.”

Well, darn. There was that voice again, only this time it was real, and it was coming out of my husband’s mouth. The very husband who will never see the point in owning a $40 handbag, no matter how well-crafted by human hands it may be. So I gave it some thought, and I decided that I should try and make myself a bag. I’d have to keep my skill-level in mind, maybe skip the pockets and zippers. Probably couldn’t make it stand up on its own, either. And I’d skip those pesky magnetic snap closures. Yeah… I could do that! It would essentially be a glorified tote bag, and it wouldn’t have anything on those great Funky Bag Lady creations, but I could always go ahead and buy one of those later.

So just like that I was talked-into making a handbag. I chose three fat quarters from my favorite fabric collection (Bleeker Street by Michele D’Amore), and two projects from two different books that I could combine to do what I wanted. I used the Simple Tote from Simple Sewing for the basic construction, but I added relatively stiff interfacing to my main piece, and I made up my own measurements. To figure out how to insert the handles and lining, I used the Pleated Beauty Handbag instructions in Bend the Rules Sewing.

All in all, I’m really happy with it – I think it’s an impressive first try if I do say so myself, and I am pretty sure that I will attempt this again. Some things I’d like to try in a future version:

Giving it a flat bottom and some depth so it could stand by itself and be less tote-baggy

Adding an inner pocket or two

Making a closure of some kind, most likely embellished with a coordinating clay button

Thanks, by the way, for all of the wonderful birthday wishes yesterday! I was hoping to respond to each of them individually (I may yet!) but for now let this group “thank you” suffice. I had a nice day, that included Indian food for supper, which I love. And today, I got the weather I’d been hoping for yesterday. It’s a day late, but I’ll take it! Happy Friday!

[edited because I had a brainstorm while driving (as far as I know that’s still legal). I remembered seeing online recently a tutorial for making a flat-bottom bag. Of course, you’re supposed to do it before the whole thing is put together, so that your mess is on the inside, but it made me think of another way to get a similar effect and still keep the outside looking decent. So, I did it. And, as long as I was fiddling with it anyway, I added a snap closure with one of my polymer clay buttons for decoration.

I like! It still lacks pockets inside, but at least now it looks more like what I was going for. NOW I’m done. But you know there will be more of these…]

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22 thoughts on “Mama’s got a new bag”

It’s lovely! Much better than my own first bag, which was all raw edges and bad thread–but which I insisted on carrying around ANYWAY, because I made it, and it was MY size and colors. I’ll do better next time. But not as well as you’ve done here!

Thanks! And you may notice I fiddled with it further. Now I’m *really* happy with it.

And I’ve got a few of those “I made it myself!” kind of things around here that I insist on using despite their, uh, lack of craftsmanship. That’s part of the fun of making things (and probably why most artsy people are considered eccentric to outsiders, LOL!)

It’s splendid! WTG with your creative self. 🙂 I looove the fabric. Probably b/c it looks a lot like the wonderful little wristlet I bought on Etsy some time ago. 🙂 If I could sew, I’d probably have at least 2 different purses for each day of the week.

Good job on the bag! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the tutorials on this website (http://u-handbag.typepad.com/). They are on the right column and the “Zippered Pocket in Bag Lining” is so easy and looks awesome in a bag. Pretty soon people will be paying you $40 for a nice handmade bag! Also, Peltex is fantastic for giving the bag some shape.

Thank you for the hint about Peltex. I’ll check it out. I’ve been to u-handbag before, but never with a specific project or skill in mind. I have to check it out now with new eyes and see what I can learn!

First of all, great work! Second – this is why Neil and you are a great couple. If *anyone* ever said to me that $40 was too much to spend on a purse, I’d know they weren’t for me. :-). Now, $600, that’s over the top, but I still would like one – Coach please! I just can’t bring myself to do that.

Heh. I have a small backpack purse that’s a Coach knockoff. I found it at a thrift shop for $15. That’s as close as I’m likely to get to a Coach bag, LOL! And honestly, right now I’m more into the handmade thing anyway. I feel like I’m playing dress-up when I carry the Coach-ish bag 😉

You know, I’d be lying if I said that idea didn’t totally appeal to me! But I think it might be a little over-the-top matchy-matchy even for me 😉 Or maybe not… time will tell just how addicted I get to making these!!

Cute bag! Love the colors! This blog (http://www.creativelittledaisy.typepad.com/ )has a great tutorial on basic purses and putting in magnetic clasps. Magnetic clasps are very easy to put in once you know how. The salesperson at Joann’s showed me in about a minute.

the pockets inside might be a quick fix…..you could :sew pocket pieces right side together, flip out and iron. then hand sew them to the inside.might be cute with co-ordinating fabrics, scraps leftover and chunky or fat thread to sew them down with. only going through the inside liner fabric.